A public meeting was later held in which dozens of speakers of the regional party described how their regions were continuously neglected by the state and central governments.

'We have separate Kosali language. Our culture and traditions are different. Our regions are the poorest in India despite having huge mineral and forest wealth,' party head Pramod Mishra said in his address.

'Only a separate Kosal state can improve the condition of our people,' he said.

The demand for separate state of Kosal picked momentum in Orissa after the central government decided to carve Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh.